A maximum security prison unit opened more than a year late after bosses failed to order any locks and keys.
Planning consent for the segregation unit was given in 2017 and it was due to open in 2021 but a series of errors meant it was not ready until last summer.
Details only emerged this week in a report, which branded it “unbelievable”.
A source said: “You’d think if you were building new cells, locks and keys would be fairly high up the to-do list. It beggars belief that the project continued for so long without this in hand.”
The cells, for 30 high-risk prisoners, were being built to replace the old segregation unit, which was “unfit for purpose”.
Abandoned prison which caged dangerous cartel killers found by urban explorerThe Independent Monitoring Board said of the mix-up at HMP Wayland in Norfolk, which was once home to Reggie Kray: “Unbelievably, everyone wrongly thought someone else was procuring locks for the cells and the building.”
Covid-related “supply chain issues” also added to the delay.
The Prison Service said the lock issue was now “resolved”.